“The age of seamless international travel has arrived” says biometrics market researcher Maxine Most

The global market for airport automated biometric facilitation will be worth $1.3 billion in revenue over the next five years as more than 16,300 eGates and kiosks are deployed for automated check-in, auto bag drop, passport control, security checkpoints, and boarding, according to a new report from Acuity Market Intelligence.

“The Airport Automated Biometric Facilitation Report: Form Curb to Gate” predicts a stunning 20 percent CAGR in annual revenue from airport biometric automation, as it rises from $156 million in 2018 to $389 million in 2022.

“The age of seamless international travel has arrived,” says Maxine Most, Principal at Acuity Market Intelligence. “Integrated, frictionless passenger facilitation is the next wave of biometric automation for expedited travel.”

More than 80 countries currently have a combined 5,500 automated border control (ABC) eGates, ABC kiosks, automated passport control (APC) kiosks, automated immigration check-in (AIC) kiosks, auto bag drop (ABD) units, and automated boarding (AIB) eGates deployed at more than 300 locations. Dozens of additional airports are expected to deploy these kinds of units, tripling their number by 2020.

“ABC eGates, and ABC and APC Kiosks are established solutions that have been widely deployed,” notes Most. “The next wave of Automated Biometric Facilitation includes AIC Kiosks, ABD Units, and AIB eGates that – while in their market infancy – are having enormous impact where they have been deployed. This includes Singapore’s Changi Airport’s curb-to-gate Fast and Seamless Travel initiative (FAST) and the United States’ Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Biometric Exit AIB trials that have proven so successful that both Orlando and San Jose airports have committed to full deployment.”

San Jose’s Mineta International Airport recently joined Orlando in committing to biometric exit at all international departure gates.

“Though Europe will dominate the Automated Biometric Facilitation market with 30 percent-unit deployment and 35 percent-revenue share through the 2022 forecast period, Acuity expects that just beyond the forecast period, growth in Asia will shift market dynamics towards total Asian domination by 2030,” Most says.

World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) President and CEO Gloria Guevara recently told Biometric Update that governments and industry stakeholders are motivated to harmonize biometric identity to ease the coming capacity crunch in international travel.